Salvation
by Harlequin Gaga
Summary: Sequel to Salvatore and Showtime. Luigi wasn't able to save Mag, and as a result has become a shut in. Pavi isn't ready to let his brother kill himself though. As with the first stories, tons of Mag/Luigi (though this one doesn't have any flashbacks) and has a touch of personal headcanon. Brief implications of Largocest and plenty of Luigi psychology. There's naughty language, duh.


**Author's Note: By reader's demand, I'm here with a sequel to Showtime! If you haven't read Showtime or Salvatore, I would highly suggest you do, otherwise you might be a little lost with the brief mentions of my headcanons. I feel like compared to the first two stories, this one is kind of weak, and I apologize. This is my first time experimenting with Largo family dynamics! **

**If you guys would like any continuation with this series, any prequels, sequels, or midquels, I'm open to suggestions! If it involves me getting down and dirty with some Luigi angst, I'm open to writing it!**

It had been so long since he had been alone. For over twenty years, she had been his companion, by his side, loving and supporting him no matter what. There were times when it didn't quite seem like she was really there, times when he almost believed her cries of _I hate you! I hate you! _as drunken anger had him cornering her against a wall,but when you love someone in the way they loved each other, you never really stopped caring, even when things got tough.

Now, though, she really was gone, and would never be by his side again. The image of her body- cold, broken, and white- impaled upon that fence would haunt him forever. Using one of his last breaths of life, his father had murdered the love of his life, and all at once, Luigi lost everything. Mag was gone, taking with her all hopes he had of rekindling his humanity. His father and any chance of some day earning his love and respect were all gone. And GeneCo, the thing he wanted most in the world, was in Amber's hands now. Luigi Largo, who once considered himself king of the world, now had nothing.

It had been a month since that night at the Genetic Opera, and Luigi had spent nearly all of his time since alone in his suite in the GeneCo tower. At first, Amber visited him often, trying to convince him to take a position on her staff. She even offered him the job of repo man, the occupation Luigi had dreamed of one day having until the strict training proved too much for him. But Luigi wanted nothing to do with a GeneCo that was Amber's, and, eventually, she stopped trying to win him over. After two weeks, the GENterns that she sent to bring him meals and other things he needed stopped coming too, and most of his gofers had been offered better jobs and left. Now he only had one, the skinny kid who needed a haircut, the one he affectionately called Ballstrap, but Luigi feared that soon even he would leave him.

_Not that I fucking care_, Luigi thought,_ I hate the kid and the kid hates me_. He sat in an armchair by his heavily curtained window, allowing hardly any light to enter the room. Though he once took great pride in his appearance, wearing only the finest of suits and carefully slicking back his hair every day, he now sat in only a pair of boxers, and his unwashed hair hung limply around his narrow features. He had just sent Ballstrap out to find him some breakfast, and expected him back soon. For now he had the suite to himself, and he would never admit how empty it made him feel.

_Soon that jackass will leave me to wash Pavi's feet or some shit, and I'll finally be completely alone. Good. They'll stop feeding me and maybe I can finally fucking die._ His thick eyebrows furrowed over his faded blue eyes and he sighed. _I bet that's what they're all waiting for. With me gone, they can turn my place into some surgery room or nightclub or fuck knows what. Amber's just waiting for me to croak, and Pavi's going along with it. They're just like Ma and Pop. They never really cared whether I was here or not._

With a grunt, he slammed his fist into the arm of his chair, breathing heavily. The thought that his family never truly loved him stung like hell, but he was sure it was true. After Pavi was born, his parents seemed to forget he was there, and he had to spend the rest of his life fighting for attention. The only person who ever seemed to care for him was Mag, but he fucked that up too. _She actually fucking loved me_, he thought, chest shaking and eyes burning,_ She loved me and I treated her like shit_. _She's better off fucking dead. Now I can't hurt her. _

With a gross sob, he let a few bitter tears slip, and stood up angrily. _I can't do this fucking crying shit. I don't deserve to feel this bad for myself. _He rushed to the bathroom and splashed cold water in his face. Leaning over the sink, puffy eyed and huffing, he looked at his reflection in the cracked mirror. He had broken it a month ago, a mere six hours before she died. He knew even then what would happen, and, in his anger, had thrown a bottle at the glass. Now it served as a painful reminder that he had failed in saving her. He couldn't bear to look at it any longer- or himself, for that matter.

He staggered over to the toilet and sat on the closed lid, and tried to steady his breath. He didn't want Ballstrap to see him like this. Just then, there was a knock from his door. "Why the fuck is he knocking? He has a fucking key," Luigi muttered. He stood up and quickly ensured that there was no evidence that he had been crying, then went to answer the door.

"Goddammit, Ballstrap, you could have just come in!" he yelled as he unlocked the door, "You fucking-"

Standing in his doorway wasn't Ballstrap, but a slender, dashing figure- the only alarming feature being the woman's face he wore over his own. For the first time in a month, his younger brother Pavi stood before.

"Luigi," was all Pavi said, softly, for once not bothering with his faux Italian accent.

Luigi was speechless and his cheeks were burning. This was the first time he had seen his brother in a month, and he had answered the door dissheveled, undressed, and in a rage. His words caught in his throat and he stumbled back. Finally, he spat, "Get the fuck away," and attempted to shut the door.

Pavi caught it with a nimble arm. "Luigi, don't," he said, "I want to talk to you."

"Amber sent you. You're here on that bitch's terms," Luigi coughed, turning away from the door. He frantically fumbled through his laundry on the floor until he found a pair of pants to wear and quickly slipped them on, trying to hide his appearance from his perfectly groomed brother.

Pavi stepped in and shut the door behind him. "Please, Luigi, she doesn't know I'm here." He went to his brother and placed a gentle hand on his arm. "I've missed you," he whispered.

Luigi stumbled back, avoiding his brother's touch, and settled back in his armchair. "Sure you've missed me. Cut the shit, Pavi."

Pavi stood awkwardly, then finally took a seat on the edge of Luigi's unmade bed. "Don't tell me you haven't missed me, brother."

Luigi said nothing.

With a sigh, Pavi continued, "Amber misses you, too, though she won't admit it. GeneCo is doing well, but it's not the same. As you might have guessed, she's been making deals with that dumpster rat."

"Why do I fucking care? I lost any connection to the company the second it went to her. It's not my business anymore."

"Things are going to shit. I'm worried that the more time she spends with the graverobber, the closer she'll be to relapse, and she'll be hooked on surgery again. If that happens, GeneCo will crumble." Pavi paused, and looked away from Luigi's harsh stare. "But I'm not here to talk about Amber. She's pretty much cut off communication with me beyond business. Whatever happens to her happens. I'm here to talk about you, brother. You're going to die very soon if you keep living like this."

"Won't that make things easier?" Luigi barked in a pained voice, "You always fucking hated me, you and Amber both. You hated me, Dad hated me, and Mom hated me. The public hated me, and, hell, I hated me. Maybe it's time for me to die." His head dropped and he placed a hand over his eyes to hide the tears growing there.

"You can't honestly believe that," Pavi said softly, "after all the three of us have gone through together. I can't vouch for Mama and Papa, but you must know that me and Amber loved you. I thought we made that very clear. You know how close we could be."

Luigi's head snapped up and he stood, then stormed to the other side of the room. "None of that meant anything," he growled, "That wasn't love. That's not what love is."

"It was something!" Pavi shouted, raising his voice for the first time since arriving. He rushed to Luigi's side. "And besides all that, you must know that I have always looked up to you. You're incredibly difficult to love, Luigi, but I do anyway." His voice grew frantic with emotion, as he tried to find the brother he once knew in Luigi's broken eyes. "You hurt people in more ways than one because you think we're lying when we say we love you, but we mean it." He paused. "I meant it." He grabbed Luigi by the shoulder and turned him around. "We've both done horrible things to each other but that doesn't change the bond we share."

Luigi looked at his brother as tears slid down his face. He finally backed against the wall and slid to the floor, and really allowed himself to cry. Pavi sunk down, too, but did not touch his brother again. He simply looked on with love and concern.

"You _have_ to love me," Luigi finally whimpered, "You're my brother. Of course you do. I can rip you to pieces and you'll still love me. But what about her? I had no right to treat her the way I did, and I had no right to let her die." He paused, and his eyes closed in pain, then opened, blazing with anger. "_I fucking let her die, Pavi, after everything she did for me_."

The air rung with his outburst and he attempted to resettle his breath. Pavi thought, then spoke up. "You know you did everything you could," he said in a low voice.

"Sure I did," Luigi said with a bitter laugh, "I gave her a life full of bruises and cuts and tears and hatred and fear. I went to comfort her before she died, or to convince her to find some way out, and I ended up just upsetting her. I ruined her life. She would have been happier as a blind girl. I showed her how full of shit the world is."

"I told you you're hard to love, Luigi, but that doesn't mean you're not worth loving." Pavi stood up. "You've nearly killed me on multiple occasions, but I'm still trying to save you from killing yourself. She may not have been connected to you by blood, but, just like me and Amber, there was something that connected her to you, that meant she _had_ to love you no matter what."

Luigi snapped his head back, banging it against the wall. "Stop giving me the Oprah speeches. I was an abusive asshole and I still am. There's no making that into some beautiful poetic act of God."

Pavi nodded. "You fucked up," he said plainly, "You've done stupid things and you've treated those who love you like shit. But treating yourself like shit and turning your back on your family is no way to fix it. The least you could do now is to finally start being a man. That's what she would want. That's what you can do to make up for it. You can care for what little you have left."

Luigi was quiet for a moment, then he slowly stood. "You're not implying what I think you're implying."

"You didn't just give Mag a life with you. You gave her a life without her son. You don't have to give your son a life without a parent."

Luigi wiped the tears from his eyes and looked at his brother. Pavi stood by the door, waiting for Luigi to make his decision. Luigi did, and a smile slowly crept on his lips. He walked to the door and placed a hand on Pavi's shoulder. He searched for the right words to say, but finally settled on three quiet words. "I love you," he whispered.

Pavi smiled back. "That's the first time you've ever said that." He then pulled his brother into his arms in the first true embrace they had shared since they were young. When they pulled away from each other, he said, "I'll talk to Amber, and get her to work something out with you. She's given me partial ownership of GeneCo, and I'm sure she'll do the same for you. She really loves you, Luigi, and I think we all just want to be a family again." He gave his brother a reassuring smile, which fell flat beneath the twisted skin he wore. "Then, we make plans to find Alfredo for you." He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. "You're going to be okay, Luigi. Things are going to be okay now."

Luigi watched him go, then stood in the ringing silence, not quite comprehending what had just happened. It had all happened so suddenly. All it had taken was a talk with Pavi, and he had found a new reason to live. Fresh tears welled in his eyes, but he didn't bother hiding them. They felt cleansing.

_I love you, Mag, and I'm sorry for what I did to you. It was my job to protect you and love you, but all I did was hurt you. Despite it all, I really did love you, and deep down, all I wanted was to give you what you wanted. I'm sorry I couldn't do that. But I won't do the same thing to Alfredo. He's all of you I have left, and I 'm gonna love him like I should have loved you. Like Rotti should have loved me. _

He smiled and looked around his room. It was too dark. He went to the window and pulled back his curtain, letting the colorful artificial lights of the city flood in. He looked out, and saw everything he had turned his back on. Mag's posters still hung everywhere, and he was reminded of when they were young, before things went wrong. Everything was brand new to Mag, who didn't have sight until she was nineteen. It was all beautiful to her, every little bit. Luigi had never understood how she saw things the way she did, but he wanted to start trying.

He looked down into the road and saw GENterns, businessmen, and clients entering and leaving the GeneCo building. Life was continuous, and he was ready to rejoin. Somewhere out there, he had a son, and within him was a fresh beginning. Looking at it all, he remembered what it was like when he was a child, and the city was so huge it overwhelmed and amazed him. He had spent so long being cold and unfeeling, and as a result he forgot all about the dreams and aspirations he had once had. He wanted to be the man Rotti once thought he would be, the man Mag saw within him.

Music rang through the air, coming from the opera house across the street. Luigi remembered how his father had once been happy, had once been a musical man. Amber had once treated her brothers as equals, and she too had once been a performer. GeneCo had corrupted both of them.

_There's something special about that opera house, Maggie. There's something special about music. That's why we all loved you so much, I think. I spent so long dreaming of someday owning GeneCo, but now I'm not so sure that's the right thing to do. There's gotta be something better out there for me and Alfredo._

Luigi turned from the window just in time to see the door open again. Ballstrap entered with his breakfast. "I'm so sorry I'm late, Mr. Largo! The elevator to this floor was shut off for a while, and your breakfast got cold so you probably don't want it. I'm so sorry. I'll leave now to go ge—"

"Shut the fuck up, Ballstrap." Luigi cut the whimpering apology off. Before Ballstrap could respond, he took the box containing the cold bagel and threw it into the trashcan. "Give me some time to clean up, and I'm going out for breakfast. Hell, I'll buy for you too."

"Mr. Largo?"

"I'm serious. Go down to the garage and ask Branko to be bringing around my car. Things are changing around here, Ballstrap."

"Would you stop calling me that!?" the kid bursted, "I've been working for you for five years and I'm sick of being called Ballstrap! I've told you my name is Aaron!" Realizing what he had done, he instantly snapped his mouth closed and backed towards the door. "I'm so sorry, Mr. Largo. I didn't mean…I'm sorry."

Luigi again cut him off. With a warm smile, he said, "Things are changing around here, Aaron."


End file.
